Roses
by I've Perfected Imperfection
Summary: In moments like these, I need to use the excuse of climbing the ladder of perfection to escape reality. Sequel to AIRPLANES.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gakuen Alice or the song 'The Rose'. This is the sequel to 'Airplanes'. :D Please review if you liked it or not~  
WARNING: Watch out for the bold italic letters. :D They spell out a word in the end.

**.x.**

**Roses  
-**_Written by I've Perfected Imperfection_

"Seeds grow. Those seeds flourish into roses. Those roses live for a while. Then they slowly wither. They're dead. But a new seed takes its' place."

**.x.**

Some say love, it is a river  
That drowns the tender reed  
Some say love, it is a razor  
That leaves your soul to bleed

Some say love, it is a hunger  
An endless, aching need  
I say love, it is a flower  
And you, it's only seed

O

Once upon a time, there lived hate and love.

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The girl chose hate and despised herself for betraying her first love,

O

yet her first love chose the latter and continued loving her, forgiving her along the way.

**.x.**

_Every rose has its' thorns that thwart it from looking perfect. Thorns may be a hindrance to faultless beauty, but they are what make roses like humans. Some may think perfection has no flaws, but others see one flaw they conta__**i**__n. Maybe if the world was perfect, there would be no war. The wars wouldn't have started. And people would live happily ever after. But what would life be like if no one tried in succeeding? _

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**She clutched onto her stomach protectively**. Tears burst out of her hazel eyes. A lifeless body lay on the king-size bed, crowds gathering and pushing their way towards the boy who died early in the morning with Mikan Sakura by his side. There in the distance, was an airplane that blinked red in the dark night sky. But she paid no heed to it as the tears kept falling down. Murmurs were becoming thicker; footsteps and yelling were thrown across the school hallways.

"Hurry up, someone! Natsume Hyuuga's dead! Tell the damn teachers!" a student yelled angrily, kicking the doors noisily. She ignored the soothing mumbles and agonising sobs. Instead, she clasped onto his pale, warm hand. His red cat-like eyes were closed, and never would they see his beautiful eyes. She wished this was all a dream, she wished she could rewind time backwards. But at the back of her pierced bleeding heart, she knew from the throbbing pain that this was not an unrestricted dream. It was restricted reality.

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_Dreams are like wings. Dreams are not restricting. We can die in our own dreams, but we can come back to life by the power of our will and mind inside the dream. Unlike reality, you can come back from the dead. But there is one similarity between both reality and i__**m**__agination. You cannot heal your pain. We are chained to our sorrows and our happiness in reality. But once we are free, we can fly like the birds in the blue sky, watching over and protecting the people we love._

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"Mikan-san, would you like some tea?" Ruka asked gently, pitying the distressed girl sitting formally on his red couch.

"Yes please," she mumbled, flashing a weak grateful smile. As he poured the hot tea inside a decorative tea cup, she finally took notice of the unusual patterns.

"Flames?" she asked, amused. Ruka smiled and nodded.

"Yes, this was N-Natsume's cup. If you'd like, do you want to keep it?" he asked, brushing a strand of gold out of his blue eyes. "I'm sure Natsume wouldn't mind," he added as the brown-haired girl bit her lip doubtfully, hesitating. "Plus, he loves you, Mikan-san." He forced a reassuring smile on his face, keen on avoiding an emotional break down, especially in front of _her_.

Mikan shook her head politely and said, "No, I'm sure Natsume would want to keep it to himself – that selfish jerk – but I've got a different idea, Ruka-kun." He raised an eyebrow and urged her to continue. "Why don't we bring his cup to his g-graveyard," she swallowed thickly, blinking away the tears that were threatening to fall, "and we can leave it there, just for one of his many momentums."

He pursed his lips, tilting his head from left to right as he mulled over the thought. He snapped his fingers delightfully, "What a great idea, Mikan-san! Since the funeral is in four hours, why don't we bring it along with us?" She nodded dumbly and sipped.

_The smell of roses… _

"Roses?"

"Yeah, Natsume liked smell of roses the best," Ruka replied, silently laughing at her gaping expression.

"Natsume _likes _the smell of roses? Let alone, likes _tea_?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, pretty crazy eh?" he laughed as she held out the decorated cup, silently asking for another drink.

"I always took Natsume as a coffee drinking person," she grumbled.

"I guess he's judged even by the slightest of things, you know?" Ruka implied, shrugging.

"Hmm, maybe. But maybe, he might've planned it out that way. Maybe, he wanted people, no _us _to judge him for whom he really was. Maybe he didn't want people to understand the grief and pain he had to undergo. Maybe he didn't want to be a bloody burden to everyone, so he didn't bother trying to save up his energy—"

"Mikan-san, stop it." Ruka's angry firm voice had stopped her rambling. "It may be true that he didn't want people to understand him, but I'm sure he didn't want you to be so rude about it," he said callously. Mikan looked down as tears fell out of her eyes.

"I-I'm sorry, I-I don't k-know what came over me. It's just so hard to live life right now, now that Natsume disappeared from the face of the Earth. It's just so… just so unbearable," she mumbled apologetically.

Ruka shook his head and apologised, "No, I'm sorry Mikan-san. I didn't mean to burst out on you, really. I myself am having awhile to be accustomed to Natsume's de—"

"Don't say that _please_," she hissed.

"Mikan-san, you have to be strong enough to even hear the word death," Ruka urged. "No, not _that_. The part where you said we had to get used to his death. He may have died and his body may rot afterwards, but his spirit will always be with us. We can't just pretend he's gone from our lives spiritually, Ruka-kun!" she complained.

"I know that. I _know _that Natsume will always with us. I know that."

"Then why did you—"

"We have to get used to not seeing him every day. We need to get used to the fact that we won't hear your arguments anymore, or hear him cursing against Narumi-sensei!"

"It's funny, you know. Natsume never wanted me in his life, he always pushed me out of his line of vision... but being the stubbornly persistant person I am, I crawled back inside his shell, you know? There was just something about him that had a magical force, always beckoning me to come back," she let out a sigh. "But, despite his cruelty, I know that behind every action of his, was a word that just needed to be said aloud. He was just too stubborn to appear as _the _hero. Take the cake incident for example. He could've embarrassed Anna about her cake, but instead, poured hot tea on the cake to prevent anyone from getting poisoned. From an outsider's point of view, he looked like the enemy, the one who deserved anything that caused pain. He just needed someone able to see through his actions..." she murmured. "That's why, I believe Natsume can hear us right now."

"That's right, Mikan-san. Natsume will _always _watch over us."

O

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_Angels are like guardians. Guardians are like angels. When one is without the other, the other cannot exist. They are like two halves of a fraction. An angel's good deeds are like feathers. The more good deeds they do, the more feathers they achieve. The more feathers they achieve, the wider the wings. The wider the wings, the more people they can __**p**__rotect. _

_Some may start off with small wings, and some may start off with big wings. But the sizes of wings do not matter, for the size of their goodness found in their hearts matter most. Even with the heart that has been tainted the most can go further than others. Our good intentions may be misunderstood and mistaken for something completely different._

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"Natsume-kun was a good friend, a hero in disguise," Sumire sniffled, dabbing her eyes with a damp white handkerchief. Some of the audience laughed as she smiled. "He may not have liked me the way I wanted him to, but he definitely gave me something that no one else got: the opportunity to become his and Ruka's fan club's president!" They laughed again, easing the tension. "Some of you silly people out there may not think that's such a big deal, but to me it is! In the past few years, I observed his movements very closely!"

"Stalker!" someone shouted, despite the setting was a funeral.

"Ahem. But whenever fan girls crowded him, he always wore this irritated and angry look on his face. So I thought to myself, why hadn't he discarded my crown as the fan club's leader? When I was more _conceited _and… _naïve_," she forced the words out of her mouth, disgust and displeasure shown on her face, "I had thought he actually had an ounce of like towards me, despite the rest of it was dislike. So naturally, that put my hopes high therefore I pushed myself to the extent where I tried to flash him…" her voice trailed off to a mumble, her cheeks flaring as the crowd laughed and some had expressed their disgust.

"Ew!"

"Children, cover your ears!"

"I never gave up on him, really. He had grown to be something special in my life, and I want to thank him non-stop for that! If it weren't for Natsume-kun, I wouldn't have learnt my lesson to never flash my body to any boy! You guys may think I'm a slut, but I don't care. I know Natsume-kun understands me, and that's all that matters!" she announced unwaveringly. "So, despite the rough patches we had Natsume-kun, I wanted to say thank you for your kindness. I know you wanted to burn my hair, but you constrained yourself not to, and that's just one of the many reasons why I love you, Natsume-kun." As she finished her speech, she went off the stage and blew her nose loudly, smirking at the loudness of the applause.

"Seems like you got the attention you wanted, Miss Drama queen," Koko teased albeit his puffy red eyes.

"I didn't use the death of Natsume-kun's for the spotlight, Yome. I used it as an excuse to get through the people's thick heads that Natsume-kun isn't the scary monster people think whenever they see his _'scary blood red eyes'_," she whispered as the crowd quietened down as the next person stood on the stage.

"I wish I could read the mind of the dead. Then maybe I would hear Natsume saying thank you."

"If you listen hard enough, you can hear the whispers of wind. It almost sounds like Natsume-kun's voice."

"He must be here with us then."

"He will _always _be with us, Yome."

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_Even with the weakest relationships, there can be strong links between them despite the distance of friendliness between them. A friendship that one may think does not exist may be blind to the similarities and connections they share. Ev__**e**__n if their opinions contrasted, they could still share a special bond despite the troublesome obstacles they would undertake. All it took was the will and sincerity to keep this bond everlasting._

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One would be utterly oblivious or stupid to not notice the looks Ruka had sent to Mikan, regardless of the recent death of his best friend. Ruka had stayed in his position in his relationship with Mikan to save the relationship between Natsume and his'. It was like chess. One last move and he would win against Natsume. It would be _checkmate_. But Ruka didn't want the game to end.

Even with the calm and serene façade he used to veil his hysterical being and desperate desire to lie to himself that his best friend still walked on this Earth, he wanted Natsume to fight for Mikan. His sanity was on the brink of losing itself. He didn't want Natsume to fall off the chessboard.

He knew who would've won anyways. Her heart belonged to one person only, and that one person was fragile and could be easily thrown off the board game with one single move Ruka could attempt to capture Mikan's heart. He knew Natsume didn't want things to end this way, but it did. Natsume's selflessness finally captured the whole ounce of Mikan's heart even when he died. He knew Natsume would've still won Mikan's heart even if Ruka died. But that wasn't the reason why Ruka had stayed put and unmoving in his friendly relationship with Mikan.

He wanted to be the _perfect _man he could to support her. Starting from now, he promised not one single angry word directed to her would come flying out of his mouth. Not one single act or word would make a teardrop fall out her hazel eyes. He didn't want to be imperfect. He wanted to be the loyal friend he was. He wanted to be the typical Prince Charming. He wanted to be _perfect_. But little did he know that Prince Charming _did _have a flaw.

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_Flaws were inescapable. They are what create a living person imperfect. It is better to be strong and have an insufferable weakness than to be insuffe__**r**__ably weak and have no strengths. Flaws may be repulsive and unappealing to the naked eye, but the ones who accepts that flaws and understand that flaws will always stain the human creation, are kind at heart and near the ladder of perfection, if such thing ever existed._

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"He was a good mate even though his never ending threats were sometimes played in his head. Oh, the _pain_," Koko said, shuddering at a thought with grin still intact. "He may have been a guy with a _freezing_ cold exterior," the crowd laughed as he shivered in mock, "—but he wasn't what people thought of him as soon as they saw his '_scary blood red eyes_'," he explained, quoting his best friend.

_. . . Oh crap, I think he's talking about us, Kendo. . . . . ._

_. . . . . Hey! We were the ones who said that! The nerve of the guy— . . ._

Koko tuned out the voices out his head, ignoring whatever disintegrating things they were thinking. "And, I'd stop thinking so lowly of him, everyone. I can literally _read _your minds, so you guys better shut your pie holes," Koko threatened, chuckling at the humiliated expressions people held, "and it seems like Natsume is rubbing off on me… He may have been a rebel – and an evil one at that – but he was a good-hearted rebel with good intentions. It just happened that those intentions behind his rude and impolite actions were misinterpreted. But nonetheless, he was a good man and I salute him for that. Thank you Natsume for everything! I know you might want to fry my head right now, but you'll have to wait until I reach the place where you are, which is pretty unreachable since we're not yet de—"

_Cough_. "Yome," Permy hissed. _Cough_.

He scratched the back of his head shyly and said, "Er, I guess that's all I have to say! Thank you to the people who came to the funeral!"

"Thank you, Natsume Hyuuga," he said, loud and clear with pride, walking down the stage as he finally realised tears blurring his vision.

_. . . . . He shouldn't even be thanking us for going to this funeral. We were practically dragged here. . . ._

_. . . . H-how sad!_ _. . _

_. . I can't believe Hyuuga-san died! I guess, God needed another angel . . ._

Koko shook his head in disbelief as different thoughts were unintentionally thrown around him in the atmosphere. "Yo-me! What the hell! You're so humiliating! Ugh, it's a good thing I disrupted your little speech, or else Natsume would've _really _want to try frying your head on stage," Sumire said crossly, pinching his cheeks.

"Hey! Ow! Let go!" he yelped, rubbing his ear tenderly as she let go of it roughly. He grinned again and whispered, "You make it sound like he's alive, Per-my."

Sumire smiled angelically and said, "Hmm, I don't want to face the fact that he's entirely gone, Yome."

"He isn't. And I think he's dreading the time when you're time's up and you're going to go all bitchy at him for leaving us so early," Koko whispered when the next student walked up to the stage.

Sumire quietly laughed and said, "He better be ready for when that time comes."

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_The chessboard is the Earth. The pawns are the lowest in the social ladder and the rest fall into place. The colours, black and white, contrast from each other. Yet, both colours need each other. Without light, there would be no darkness. And without darkness, there would be no light. Life would be boring if only light shone on the Earth forever to guide us into a world of endless rest and li__**f**__e would be fearsome if only darkness dominated the world. Altogether, life wouldn't be worth all the struggles and suffering that lay ahead in our future. Black and white is completely different, but it is our differences that bring us all together._

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She stared at him with an unspoken passion. She stared at _him _with a passion that not one could comprehend, except one. And that one was Hotaru Imai.

She muttered, "What's that girl thinking now?"

"I have to agree with you, Imai," Sumire said displeasingly, quirking her eyebrow as she saw one of her friends stare intently at one of her crushes.

"Why on earth is Sakura _staring _at _Ruka_-sama?" Wakako wailed, flapping her arms in the air.

"Shut up, she might hear you," Hotaru warned, never taking her amethyst eyes off her best friend.

Sumire shrugged. "Maybe she's not really staring at Ruka-sama? Maybe she's just zoning out, especially since N-Natsume-kun just d-died—"

Hotaru cut her off, "No, it's not because of that. If you're clever enough, you should be able to interpret the look in her eyes, Shouda." Hotaru shared a momentary look with the girls, nodding her head quickly as if they were thinking the exact same thing. "Yes, and you know what I mean by _the _look."

Sumire's eyes widened as she gasped, "_No_! She can't do that to Natsume-sama!"

"Yeah! That's like, against the rules of love!" Wakako said, crossing her arms angrily. "She is a disgrace of all women suffering in the world due to the loss of love! Whatever she has in mind, is totally unforgivable!"

"Wait, we don't even know if she _loves _Ruka-san," Anna mumbled defensively. Surely her friend she had come to known for so long wouldn't develop feelings after such a tragic accident occured, and not just to her and Nogi, but to _everyone_. They all loved slash worshipped Natsume, and his loss was similar to a stab in the back.

"Then how do you explain that strong emotion in her eyes, hmm?" Sumire glared at her.

"We might just be judging this situation a bit too much! We should know that Mikan-chan would _never _betray Natsume-san like that," Nonoko disapproved.

"Let me tell you this once again," Wakako sneered, "—Mikan Sakura isn't and never will be _perfect_."

Even though she said it with such a strong emotion of pure hatred, they couldn't help but agree.

_It's okay…_

Mikan snapped out of her dreamy trance, searching for that echoing voice. She could've sworn it was… _his _voice—

She shrugged and dismissed the thought. _No way_.

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_Love. That word can be heard as melodious bells to one's ear, and one can cringe at the word as if it was their downfall in life. Some were considered to be lucky to fall in love, whilst others thought of it as a curse. It was deemed to be curse that would destruct their rights to power, money and sex. These three things, some thought it was worth losing the opportunity to fall in love, which with some endings would result in hearts crushed, some thought. Others thought this was their epitom__**e**__ of happiness, their cornerstone in life. _

_They thought that power, money and sex weren't worth against the power of love. That love would fly them higher on top of the ladder of life, but some people who chose love over power weren't ready. They weren't ready to handle the bitterness of love, the conflicts that would eventually weave into their relationships. _

_To some, it was just a game that cured their boredom. Inside, they were simply frightened of love and their consequences if they were ever in be involved in something strong and powerful like love. No one should hate on love, since love was what had created the feelings of feeling happy. But every good thing has its' bitterness. _

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"'I won't smile if Natsume doesn't smile'," Ruka said, smiling down at the audience, "Those were the words I had told Natsume. And to be honest, I'm not doing a very good job at it." His fellow classmates that were seated in the front row raised their eyebrows in confusion. He chuckled lightly, "I _wasn't _the perfect guy even though people have told me so. I'm _trying _to reach the top of the ladder; the top of perfection. It's sort of hard, but with my inspiration, I'm sure I'll be able to reach it."

_His inspiration? _

Everyone was questioning to themselves the same thought. What was his _inspiration _that could possible push him towards the idea of climbing up the ladder of perfection? Surely, it couldn't have been—

"But, it's not just for Natsume I'm trying to reach perfection," he muttered into the microphone sheepishly. Before more questions could be asked, he walked down the stage, flushing from the eyes that stared after him.

_It's okay…_

Ruka blinked at stopped in his tracks, his eyes roaming for the familiar voice that had just spoken… _Natsume?_ He shook his head in disbelief. Of course that voice would never belong to his best friend. He was _dead_.

…

But that voice _really _did sound like his.

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_They did not know. They did not notice their mistake. Committing mistakes was like painting. If you painted the original **c**olour onto the canvas improperly, you would desperately try in shrouding the mistake by using a different colou__r__. It may have covered the mistake, but it would __c__ome out differently from what you imagined 'perfection' would be. The shading would be different, the smudge would still be there, and the colour was completely different to what you had in mind. _

_They had made a mistake and they try to paint over it. Mistakes are something we learn from. But covering our mistakes with petty lies is truly pathetic, and something we still learn from but something we do not wish to experience. But then, what was life without conflicting complications?_

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He was _still _staring at her with the familiar passion found in his sea blue eyes. It shone brightly, yet he was oblivious to the scrutiny of _her _friend's.

Sumire growled, "Oh for the love of all that's holy, he's _still _staring at her! Just like the way _she _stared at _him_. This disgusts me to the deepest pits—"

"Shut _up_," Hotaru threatened, her eyes unmoving.

Sumire jeered, "Why? Get over that best friend crap, _Imai_. You can't defend her at a time like _this_!"

Wakako nodded in agreement, "Sumire's right. They're _both _at fault, Imai, so why bother?"

"For the second time, shut _up_. I'm just trying to watch out for her."

Sumire heaved a sigh, "Jeez, I can't believe I'm about to say this but whatever. You're a loyal friend, Imai, and that geezer is even _lucky _to have you as her friend."

Hotaru's lips tugged up in a tiny smile, "You're lucky to have me even negotiating business about the idiot with you."

"Look everyone; can we just talk about the speech Ruka-sama was talking about earlier?" Wakako enquired, "I mean, what is his inspiration?"

"Let's think clearly here. If Hyuuga isn't the reason of his stupidity in reaching the 'top of the ladder', then who else could be likely?" Sumire's emerald eyes narrowed into slits as she hissed, "_Sakura_."

Wakako nodded and said, "Exactly. So tonight, we ambush those two individuals, but not at the exact same time."

Hotaru asked, "And we attack them with questions, am I correct?"

"Darn right."

"Let's get moving."

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"How'd it go, everyone?" Sumire asked as soon as the two girls walked inside her room.

"It was… _interesting_," Wakako admitted, dropping herself onto the bed.

Sumire raised an eyebrow, "And what about you, Imai? How'd it go with pursuing Sakura?" Hotaru shrugged nonchalantly and replied, "Not that much. She's a stubborn girl; did I forget to mention that?"

"Yeah, we figured that out on the day she first arrived. But anyways, what did she say to you?"

Hotaru rolled her eyes and started, "I just asked her if she had any feelings at all for Nogi, but she denied it. I kept annoying her of course, and she looked genuinely surprised I had even pestered her on the touchy subject."

"Is that _all_?"

"No. Anyways, when she finally gave me an answer, she said it so firmly that I had _nearly _believed her," Hotaru said.

Sumire slapped herself on the forehead, "Can you _please _just tell us what she said?"

Hotaru shrugged and pulled out a black recorder from behind her. "I recorded the conversation." Instantly, she pressed the red button that seemed to be play.

"_I don't like Ruka-kun in any way, Hotaru! You should know that by now!"_

"_Then, care to explain yesterday when you continued to stare at him?"_

There was a moment of awkward silence.

… "_Foolish lies, Hotaru! I really don't like Ruka-kun in that way! Please, _believe _me."_

"_Fine."_

The voices ended as a beep was heard. Their mouths dropped. "B-but! I could've sworn she really had feelings for Ruka—"

"Don't be fooled," Hotaru said.

"B-but, she just said it herself!" Wakako said. "Even I, the one who can tell from a silly lie to the truth, believes her words! Surely you're not going to doubt _me_?"

"Don't you get it? She's lying to herself, hence she lies to us," Hotaru finished, narrowing her eyes dangerously at the conceited girl who was on the verge of sticking the rude finger.

"What do you mean?"

"I think Nogi unconsciously filled in the position of being _her _inspiration to reach the ladder of perfection. After that little speech of his, it must've reached her and well, she would've probably wanted to 'change for the better'."

"So… You're saying, she wants to be perfect?"

"Yes, so she doesn't want people to think she's 'cheating' on Hyuuga for his best friend, so she's lying to herself."

"Wow."

"But she's stupid. She doesn't know that she's creating a wider black hole, a black hole that will suck her in into a dimension of darkness," Hotaru sighed.

"Wait till you hear _my _story," Wakako threw in. They could practically feel the air; the air that shouted the stench of mystery.

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"Hello, you might be wondering why I dragged you five miles away from the classroom to the janitor's closet, and damn it's _filthy_," Wakako said, hands on her hips as she stared at the shuddering boy.

"Is this one of your innuendos? Because I'm not really interested in girls like you—"

She cut him off, raising an accusing hand, "You're not interested in girls like me! You're interested in girls like _Sakura_. In other words, you fancy Sakura."

He blushed, stammering, "Excuse m-me?"

"Oh, stop being the white sheep of innocence, Ruka-sama. You may be handsome, but it's the honest ones you have to look out for. And I'm going to nail your perfection career down a notch. So, I've got questions. Do you have feelings – even if it's just a _bit_ – for Mikan Sakura? Answer truthfully or you'll unfortunately face the consequences," Wakako said, her brow raising intimidatingly.

"I thought you were in our fan club—"

She snapped, "Oh please, when it comes to things like this, I'm not afraid to reveal my bitchy side. So tell me, do you like her or not?"

He sighed tiredly and admitted, "A bit."

She smirked triumphantly and announced, "Then I'll be going now—"

"Wait!" he pleaded, "Let me explain!" He knew his reputation wasn't known for committing such a felony against love, but everything had a reason behind it.

"I'd like to see you try."

He cast his head to the ground in shame and said, "I d-do like h-her, but that's why I want to be _perfect_. I want to be the person that she'll respect me for; the person Natsume will respect me for."

"It's not a bad thing, you know. Winning Sakura over," she said.

He looked at her, wide-eyed. "You just said that—"

"Well, to be honest, Natsume and you had a battle against each other for her, right?"

"He wanted to give up, since he thought I was the better option. I'll feel so… _guilty _if I betrayed him."

"It's alright to be selfish, Ruka. Natsume may still be watching over us – no matter how cheesy that sounds – but I think he'd be glad you'd be there by Sakura's side. Because you said he thought you were a better option right? So he wants to entrust her to _you_," Wakako said. Wow, who knew she had a side like this?

"I still can't do it, no matter how many words of encouragement you say, sorry."

"Then that is where your imperfection lies beneath that 'perfect' bullshit."

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"Natsume, I _promise _I won't ever love anyone else like I love you. I _swear_." Mikan knelt down in front of the tomb, her strands of caramel was flying along with the wind. "Natsume, everyone thinks I'm starting to like Ruka-kun, and to be honest, I'm c-confused myself. I r-really love y-you, but…" her voice trailed off into a whisper as tears flowed down her cheeks. After a moment of silence, she raised her head higher in determination. "No. I _won't _love someone else other than you, Natsume. You're my boyfriend, and I'll make I can be the perfect girlfriend you would've wanted me to be," she declared.

With that, she bent forward to kiss the gravestone and dusted her skirt, leaving quietly.

_It's okay…_

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"Good morning, class!" Narumi greeted as he walked in merrily.

"Good morning Narumi-sensei!" Only a few had bothered shouting in response.

Narumi began talking, "Now, it may have been an awful and tragic month this year, but I'm sure Natsume-kun wouldn't want us to wallow ourselves in tragedy of his death, so therefore, I'm here to present to you your new assignment!"

_Groans_.

"Oi, Naru, why do we have to do an _assignment_?" Mochu complained.

"I love your enthusiasm! Anyways, all you have to do is write a poem," he explained, smiling in response to the grins that fell upon their faces, "And it'll be due in four weeks, so _don't _be late in handing it in, everyone!"

"That's _so _long!" someone shouted.

"Do you want me to shorten it, then?"

"No!" Students glared at the boy who suggested a shortened time limit. Narumi chuckled, "Good good. Then, you all have a free period today! Good luck!" Biding his farewell, he ran out the door, the students staring after him in bewilderment.

"Whoa, what's up with sensei?"

"I have no idea."

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"Just admit it; you have _feelings _for Ruka-sama."

"I swear to all that's holy, I don't!"

"Please, even a crowd of the blind could see that you had feelings for him!"

…

"Am I _really _that obvious?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, you know what? I promised already that I'd be the perfect girlfriend Natsume would've wanted me to be, so I won't back out of my word."

"Darling, Natsume _would've_. It's _would've wanted._ Not _wants_."

…

"I don't care."

"Well then, like I said to Ruka-sama, that is where your imperfection lies beneath that 'perfect' façade of yours…"

O

O

O

_Dear Ruka-kun,_

_I haven't been very fair to you and Natsume recently, and it's time I stopped acting like a… like a self-centred loser. To be honest, after Natsume passed away, my heart skipped so many beats, and I just felt like… the crappiest thing in the universe. I really did love Natsume, _really, _really_ _love him. But, I guess God needed another angel so he took Natsume… During those few weeks of mourning I found myself spending so much time with you ever since his funeral. _

_But then, I started having these mixed feelings for the both of you and soon enough, I realised I actually _liked _you. When I learnt of the truth, I desperately tried to cover up my mistake by promising to myself and Natsume that I would be the perfect girlfriend he would've wanted me to be. But he would've wanted me to live life to my fullest, since I was lacking that strength and enthusiasm. I guess, I wasn't even close to reaching the ladder of perfection. I guess… both of us aren't either. Why both of us? Because Wakako had told me about your feelings, and I realised both of us weren't even close to perfecting ourselves. _

_This experience was like a rose… Everyone has their own thorns, which is their flaws, right? Well, I – no we – tried to remove those thorns by convincing ourselves it would transform us into a perfect being of our own. But we weren't doing that. Thorns and sharp, they pierce into our skin and harm our bodies. We may be removing all of the thorns, but the blood from the wound that the thorns pierce oozes out. We try wiping it away off ourselves, trying to remove the evidence of the experience we had to undergo just to become 'perfect', but really, it doesn't work._

_Even if we remove it, there will still be unusual bumps on the stem, which is unnatural for a rose. For thorns, they grow with the rose. Without thorns, the rose appears to look plain and uninteresting. A flaw is what makes someone worth knowing and what shapes their image. No flaws make a person boring. Well, that's all I wanted to say. I don't think we could work out. I'm so sorry._

_Oh, and more thing before I end this letter._

_I'm—_

_Nevermind._

_Love, Mikan S._

O

O

O

She folded the paper delicately in half, sliding it inside the white envelope. Smiling, she threw it under the door and quickly fled from sight.

Once she reached the corner, her eyes roamed around the hallway. Checking the coast was clear, **she clutched onto her stomach protectively**.

O

O

O

_They were like the roses. Despite being hidden under that thick slushiness of snow, i__**t**__'s worth waiting that time to grow. When it's spring, the roses could finally bloom._

O

Love and hate lived, not happily, but lived an ever after.

O

Hate despised hatred,

O

yet love forgave hatred and gave it another chance to restore goodness.

**.x.**

When the night has been too lonely  
and the road has been too long  
and you think that love is only  
for the lucky and the strong

Just remember, in the winter  
far beneath the bitter snows  
lies the seed, that with the sun's love  
in the spring, becomes the rose

**.x.**

"Seeds grow. Those seeds flourish into roses. Those roses live for a while. Then they slowly wither. They're dead. But a new seed takes its' place."

- _**Imperfect **__Fin_

**.x.**

**Okay, I figured I had time on my hands to revise my stories, so I thought of revising this one first. I personally liked this one because it marks how far I've gone from my first GAFFN story 'Airplanes' to the sequel :). I guess I won't be doing much changes to my stories at all, only fixing those grammar mistakes. Though cringing to my stories, I like reminiscing :) therefore only grammar will be polished. Mistakes may still be found, so please either PM or review me about it.**

**If you're confused, then I'll try to answer through these:**

_*Mikan does like Ruka, and Ruka does like Mikan. __**Please **__don't hate me for this. It was for a good reason.  
*There are random bold italics that spell out a word from each paragraph of those strange italic paragraphs that are related to what's occurring. If you can spell it out, it spells out __**Imperfect**__.  
*The poem that Narumi assigned to them? If I get over 10 reviews, I'll post the poem Mikan did in the prequel that will come later on.  
*Wondering what '__**she clutched onto her stomach protectively**__' means? Well, it's pretty obvious, but if you don't get it, it'll be self-explanatory in the prequel.  
_

**~Joy.**


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